16 June, 2015

E3 2015 - Square Enix Press Conference Roundup

By
Kyle Shimmin

Well it wasn’t the smoothest or most dynamic conference this
year, but they brought heart and a lot of games! Let’s run through Square Enix’s
line up.

Just
Cause 3

Just
Cause 3 was shown in between long expositions delivered by both executives and developers.
The trailers showed; guns, cars, jets, and plenty of explosions. Phil Rogers;
CEO of Square Enix Europe & America mentioned the Just Cause 2 multiplayer they
have supported and promised to provide post-release support for Just Cause 3.
The gameplay featured a wingsuit, a grappling hook, that can now attach to
multiple targets and retract, set in a large, 400 square-mile world. Set on the
island of Medici, ruled by an utterly ridiculous dictator hell-bent on world
domination, the game launches December 1st 2015.

NieR

Yosuke
Saito came out on stage and introduced a new title, which he has wanted to
develop for years, though work has only recently begun; a new NieR. The
subtitle was never confirmed; Saito said that more information would be
available in autumn. He did reveal however, that the game will be coming to the
PlayStation 4, being developed by none other than Platinum Games, developers of
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Bayonnetta.

Rise
of the Tomb Raider

The
Tomb Raider presentation begun with the same trailer short that ran at
Microsoft press conference. Following that, a short video detailed the many new
technical advances that have allowed Crystal Dynamics to make Lara’s story even
more believable. You know pores - the ultimate form of expression. Naturally,
they couldn’t resist covering her in dirt, blood, and snow before the
presentation ended.

Lara
Croft Go

A
cell shaded, turn-based Lara Croft game was announced for mobile devices, very
much in the vein of the 2014 release, Hitman Go.

A
short montage was shown including games such as Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward,
Life is Strange, and Dragon Quest Heroes (Koei Tecmo representing again!).

Final
Fantasy VII Remake

The
trailer from the Sony press conference was shown again. It was also announced that
the PlayStation port of the old version of the game has been pushed back to
winter and will also launch on iOS.

Kingdom
Hearts Unchained

Coming
to iPhone and Android, with a North American release, this cartoonish
role-playing game was perhaps not the announcement that Kingdom Heart fans have
been long awaiting.

Kingdom
Hearts III

A
loud “OH MAI GAWD!” could be heard from a member of the crowd as a trailer for
Kingdom Hearts III was shown, talking about the ‘Keyblade Wars’ that we are obviously
all familiar with. Before showing what looked to be open world, or at least
large open areas, featuring fast hack and slash combat, at one point the
character rode a train into a giant Orc monster. Oddly, we noted intense
sexual tension between the narrating characters – wonder how Disney feels about
that!

World
of Final Fantasy

The
trailer first seen at the Sony press conference was played again, followed by a brief
overview of the approach the developers have taken. They seek to overcome the
stigma of the Final Fantasy brand (their words were kinder) and draw in players
of all kinds, hence the new art style.

Hitman

Hitman
gameplay was shown; in which the wide possibilities for chaos and assassination
were demonstrated on the poor fashion buff from yesterday’s reveal trailer.
There was a poisoning, an axe-murder, but the most satisfying death had to be from
the hail of chandeliers falling from the ceiling. The game will sport regular
new content, driven by player feedback, including timed targets. For example, a
target will be available for perhaps 48 hours, after which point the target
will never be viable again. A ‘digital release’ lands December 8th.

A
second montage was played, showing Hitman Sniper, Triad Wars, and Final Fantasy
XV

Star
Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness

The
announcement kicked off with a something about space, time, and words ending in
‘ology’, before transitioning into gameplay. A party of colourful characters
travelled between environments, worlds presumably, using somewhat sickening
transitions. The real time combat was shown off, with ‘seamlessness’ being the
key design tenant; seamless transitions between battles, cutscenes, and the
game world. It will be releasing winter 2015 in Japan, 2016 in North America
and Europe, aiming for 60fps.

Deus
Ex: Mankind Divided

It
was announced that the team behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution would be making
this game too, taking place 2 years after the events of Human Revolution. The
game focuses on the divide between Augmented and non-Augmented humans. The
augmented have been forced to live in ghetto, neo-dystopian slums, naturally
filled with plenty of neon. Adam Jensen is back and once again the Illuminati
are involved. You will be able to attempt
to bring the terrorists out into the light in early 2016 on Xbox One, PS4, and
PC.

Yosuke
Matsuda came out to close the show and announce a Final Fantasy Portal app
coming this summer, along with the debut of a new game development company
called, Tokyo RPG Factory, which will focus on creating Japanese RPG’s. The concept art from their first can be seen below.